Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Researchers build software to map criminal networks

ItNews | Phone calls, social networks on the radar - Sydney
researchers are developing an open source tool that could allow security
professionals to detect and visualise unusual behaviours in two dimensions.

Called GEOMI (Geometry for Maximum Insight), the Java-based
tool has been under development at the faculty since 2005, with version 2
released last year.

Sydney University professor Seok-Hee Hong said the tool
could be used to analyse complex relationships in social networks, email and
phone records.

By presenting information as two-dimensional visuals, she
said the tool could allow police and security specialists to look for various
relationships and abnormal behaviour, such as 'short cycles'.

The term 'short cycle' refers to chains of connections that
loop back to the original source in only three or four steps.

Hong described GEOMI as a research prototype and generic
visual analytics tool that had yet to be commercialised for specific domains.

Besides law enforcement, the tool could also be used to map
biological networks -- including protein-protein interaction, gene regulatory
networks and biochemical pathways.

Hong said GEOMI algorithms were "superfast",
capable of running in "O(n log n) time [compared to] existing ones [in]
O(n2) time, where n represents the size of the graph".

Earlier this month, the New Zealand Police agreed to
commercialise its Environment for Virtualised Evidence (EVE) technology, used
to mine seized electronic devices like mobile phones and PCs for clues.